Wednesday, May 28, 2014

We are finishing our Fifth Round of testing 1,990 points up and down the state and what have we found? While the first four rounds showed ever expanding mobile broadband coverage and speed, in this round the mobile broadband providers, T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon, both netbook and phone, appear to be holding steady in coverage and speed with the previous Round 4, which was conducted last fall. T-Mobile's phone, like round 4, continues to have a latency problem which distinguishes it from all the other providers' netbooks and phones.

Monday, May 19, 2014

Those red dots are the 15 percent of points, out of 1,990 points statewide, that have yet to be tested. As you can see, a big chunk of them are in the Bay Area. So Bay Area residents, if you happen to see one of testers working hard on the side of the road, give them a honk salute. Our mobile testers are in the trenches fighting to close that stubborn digital divide.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Ready for a hike or should you check your e-mail or Facebook account? Tester Tom Allread found no broadband available from any provider at this Sequoia National Park location. So shut down your phone and enjoy the view.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Tester Brandt Robinson considers the choice between grapes and broadband in a Sonoma County vineyard near Cloverdale. Sprint and Verizon were pumping out the broadband at this location but AT&T was slow and T-Mobile had no service. So when you are stamping on those grapes, be sure and keep your smart phone dry.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Southern California is officially finished. 75 percent of 1,990 testing locations have been completed as our mobile testers enter the home stretch. As you can see from the map below, all the remaining test points are those red dots in Northern and Central California.

Friday, May 9, 2014

Tester Stephen Crews testing at El Capitan State Beach. How was that beach broadband? Verizon had the highest upload at 4 Mbps and T-Mobile the highest download at 9 Mbps, but neither provider deliverd served speeds of 1.5 up and 6 down. AT&T and Sprint were both well under served speeds. At this location, it may be more satisfying to surf the waves than surf the internet.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

This is Test Point 1037: Tribal Lands from Tester David Faulkner. It is near Fort Bidwell on the northeastern corner of the state. What kind of broadband can we expect at this location? No service to speak of from any provider.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Our intrepid Testers have completed over 60 percent of 1,990 testing locations statewide. So far, Verizon seems to be holding its own as the mobile broadband leader. The blue dots indicate completed tests and the red dots indicate locations where we have not completed tests. As you can see most of the remaining tests are in urban areas. This may explain the lower speeds registered so far. Get ready for some fast speeds as the testers finish their rounds.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Attention current CalSPEED users and potential CalSPEED users. The CPUC's Android mobile app for testing mobile broadband speeds has been improved. A bug has been fixed which caused the app to run out the battery when the app was not in use. Please go to Google Play, download this new version to your phone and start testing mobile broadband speeds in your community. All the results are crowdsourced to our Interactive Broadband Map and we use these results to help determine whether a community is eligible for broadband subsidies.

About Me

At the beginning of May, 2012, the California Public Utilities Commission began semi-annual mobile field testing of broadband coverage and speeds at 1,200 locations around the state. The scope expanded in 2014 to cover nearly 2,000 points. Testing is done once in the Spring and once in the Fall. Tests include round trip time (ping), UDP packet loss, and TCP throughput for the four major mobile carriers. The results are available on the CPUC's interactive broadband map (www.broadbandmap.ca.gov). The project is funded by a grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and also covers other activities including: technical assistance, programs to improve computer ownership and internet use, wireless application development, and data collection, integration, and validation. To see the California Interactive Broadband Map, go to http://www.broadbandmap.ca.gov/. To learn more about the ARRA grant, click the Broadband USA logo above.